Lugano Packing List Tips by nygaston

WHAT TO TAKE FOR 3 WEEKS

Luggage and bags: light luggage

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: 3 jeans, 3 T-shirts
1 suit, 1 shirt
shoes, sockets

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: special vitamins

Photo Equipment: small camera for walk in the forest or the moutain

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: it's better inside

Miscellaneous: books to read and discuss

Phone: 06 19 92 16 38

ESCAPING TO THE SUN

Luggage and bags: The next day we thought we'd try another gentle, down-valley walk in the Val Maggia. When the postal bus delivered us to the hamlet of Cavergno, however, a chilly mist was spilling over the crest of the Alps from northern Europe. Pulling on polarfleece sweaters and nylon pants, we started down the path along the valley floor.

Soon a light drizzle was falling and we fished our rain parkas out of our packs. Beneath our hoods Jeri and I looked at each other and shook our heads. Hiking in the damp chill is something you often have to put up with north of the Alps, but not here in Ticino.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: A few minutes down the valley, in the village of Bignasco, we jumped aboard another postal bus and within an hour were back in bright sunshine, walking along the lakeside promenade in Ascona, past palm trees and flower gardens.

This colorful, inviting town, filled with galleries and museums, is the Sante Fe of Ticino, attracting writers and artists from all over the Continent, including, over the years, Hermann Hesse and Paul Klee.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Peeling off our polarfleece, we found a table in a cafe along the promenade and ordered a bottle of white Merlot. And that's how we spent the afternoon - soaking up the balmy Mediterranean sun, inhaling the fragrant breeze and watching the lake steamers out in Lago Maggiore, crisscrossing back and forth between Switzerland and Italy.